(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for the acquisition of contoured human body surface vibration signals.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Devices are known in the prior art to detect the contour of shapes. Some of these devices are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,487 to Bogle; U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,924 to Hu; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,668 to Ahdoot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,184 to Mushabac illustrates a device for providing a computer with electrically encoded data specifying curvilinear contours of an object. The device comprises a manipulable frame member, componentry for establishing a reference position, a plurality of stylus elements, and means for measuring displacements of the stylus elements along respective axes. The componentry for establishing a reference position includes circuits transmitting an electrical signal encoding a location of a reference point on the frame member to the computer. The stylus elements are each slidably mounted to the frame member for motion along respective axes extending at least partially parallel to one another. The means for measuring or detecting stylus displacements is operatively connected to the stylus elements for transmitting to the computer electrical signals encoding displacements of the stylii along the respective axes. The Mushabac device may be used to determine the contour of a human tooth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,868 to Case et al. illustrate a surface contour measurement instrument in which back-to-back hydraulically linked pistons are mechanically coupled to contact probes and measurement sensors. The pistons are hydraulically linked by small diameter flexible conduits which enable the contact probes and the measurement sensors to be mounted and moved independently of each other without affecting the ability of the measurement instrument to simultaneously measure a plurality of points on a selected predefined surface, such as a human tooth.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a device for the acquisition of contoured human body surface vibration signals.
In accordance with the present invention, a device and a method for acquiring contoured human body surface vibration signals is provided. A flexible array of sensing elements is used to measure displacements of a skin surface as a function of time at multiple points on the human body. A contour estimation component is used to measure the time average displacements of the skin surface at nominal locations of the sensing elements in the flexible array. A computer is used to correct the effect of positional error determined by the contour estimation component from a set of data gathered by the flexible array.
Other details of the device of the present invention, as well as other objects and advantages attendant thereto, are set forth in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals depict like elements.